Day 7/8/9/10 In the Jungle

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This was a hugely exciting moment for the children as we were off to the jungle ......... the real jungle! They had all packed "special survival packs" just in case they became lost for months on end without the help of their parents. I am not sure what each pack contained but I believe necessary and essential items that they could live off until rescued!! Freds's I believe contained: torch, penknife, packet of Haribos, matches, packet of Haribos, compass, tissues x 3 packs, foil blanket and finally another packet of Haribos, just in case his ordeal took a little longer than expected.
As with every great adventure to get to those special places requires the pain of getting there in the first place before appreciating the beauty of the destination and this was certainly no different. We were heading for the jungle in Chitwan National Park and to get there we had Sundip, our very humorous driver, who was thrown in by our very aimiable Blue Horizon Hotel manager, included in the price .. ... of course!! We then had to experience the extremely hot 6 hour long journey through bumpy and winding roads and tracks, along with several thousand fabulously painted multi coloured Nepaly lorries and busses, none of which would even get close to passing a UK emmissions test, and many of which were in the middle of the road with one wheel now missing; overturned into the ditches or some having gone over the edge of the road and down the resulting steep cliff edge, now being winched back up with chains ............ I suspect the occupants no longer being with us! The chilldren acually faired remarkably well throughout this ordeal of a journey, the fumes and heat of which were at times unbareable and I am sure the trip from Kathmandu to Chitwan put us all on the equivolent of "40 a day!"

At Chitwan NP we would be staying in very basic jungle lodges on the island within the park and we were all enourmously grateful for reaching our destination ........ in one piece!. We crossed the river by long boat which was a great adventure for the children in itself and was an amazingly calming and comfortable experience after what we had just been through. After a 'jungle lunch' which was a little more taseful then 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here' it was time for the children to wash down the elephants in the river (apparently the crocs stayed away from the camp so this part of the river was safe!!!! ...... ish!). They were so excited they could hardley contain themselves. Infact neither Jo or I had been THAT close to an Elephant. It was an amazing experience but looking into their eyes you couldn't help but see a certain sadness .............. after all they were meant to be wild, but this was very much Nepaly culture and way of life.

Terry Waite and the "world service" decided to join us in our accomodation, but it WAS the jungle and therefore quite an authentic experience, complete with mice/rats and things which I can only assume were monkeys jumping on the thatched roof throughout the night. The days were filled with jungle walks - health and safety were obviously at the forefront of our intreped rangers minds as in the breif before our first walk in the jungle we were told what to do in case of bumping into: 1. A Rhino - i) run to a large tree and climb it. ii) if you cant find a tree to climb, find a large tree to hide behind as the Rhino is too fat to run round it. iii) if you can't find a tree, just RUN! 2. A Tiger i) Be very calm but if it charges RUN! 3. A Bear - these stand on their hind legs and have sharp claws so RUN! As our rangers were only armed with Bamboo sticks and NOT rifles, I was beginning to wish I had put a pair of trainers on!!
Riding Elephants through the jungle was a particular favourite for us all and the children even got to sit up front on there own and ride them - the elephants were truly amazing. The daily bathing of the elephants was also a firm favourite and coming across Rhino's, Python deer, foxes and monkeys.
We made a visit to one of the local villages to meet the Tharu Tribe and this was a true eye opener for the children. They met many children their own age and were fairly apprehensive at first as all the children wanted their photos taken, but after a while of seeing their homes and how they lived the boys then played some cricket with them and realised that they had some common ground. Some of the boys them put some green leaves in my hand and informed me with great hilarity that this was 'Ganja', using several leaves to make a 'cone' they clearly showed me how this plant was used!! We leave Chitwan today and head for Pokara, with our amazingly happy and informative driver, Sundip, who was a great asset to the trip, teaching the children about Hindu religion and pro's and cons of the various beliefs. Even the benefits of arranged mariages i.e. if anything goes wrong you can blame your mother!

It was a long rive to Pokara.